The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1887-04-29

81 am opening the valve above. an
sWered, coldly, because It IS time now
To sink to q lower level, and descend 7"
Descend, Ell n briskly put in my fell
low-voyager We may as we'll under
stand each other at once. Hands off the
rope, / say, if you would keep the roof
on your skull, " he added, threateningly,
as he drew revolver from within his
waistcoat, and deliberately pointed the
barrel at my head ''Tll show you who's
captain up here"
: My brain reeled, and my blood ran
cold, ais the horrible thought flashed
upon me that was, at that fearful height
above the earth, in company with mad
man. Nothing, surely, save insanity,
could account for the extraordinary be-
havior of M. de Villeneuve. But sup
pose Iput a.tolerably. good countenance
on the matter, for my formidable COM
panion laughed again, but less ill-natur-
eddy, as he said
'sYou face it out well, boy. like a
youngster who shows-a heart somewhat
bigger than a chickens, And Pmnot so
bad as / look never do this Pie drew
his hand as he spoke edgeways, with a
meaning gestHre, across his throat
when can get my little profits by
quieter means. But you stare at me as
if were mountebank selling quack
medicines. Can you guess why those
gendarmes were SO peremptory an hour
ago2 Because they wanted the pleasure
of my company back to Toulon, that's
all. Did you never. hear, Anglais, Of
Risque-son-cou?"
MISREPRESENTATION ~ / repeated, in per-
,plexity~., - -. s-t'ssss
cay, Pierre. Paul Grfncheux, if you
please, dit Risque-son-co said the man.
with an odd sort of pride; ....it's.a name,
if you read the reports Of our tribunals,
that you may have met with. Toulon
Brest, .Lambessa.-I know every one of
those charming retreats like my pocket
I have had enough sea-air for one while,
SO Igave myself Sleavesof absence"
:. And then i remembered to have seen
paragraph in. q local paper. announcing
the escape from Toulon of a criminal of
the worst and most dangerous type, who
had not as yet recaptured, and
Whose ,grotesque nickname of Neck-or-
nothing had been earned by fifty prison
breakings and hair breadth evasions from
Justice And here was ], Edward Holmes,
artist, voyaging by night in Balloon in
company with runaway galley slave,
more than match in strength for me,
even had he been less we'll provided | NY
terEblerompanion waSonlytoo much dis
posed to be laxative; and as we swept
onward before the freshening wind, he
was kind enough to favor me with a
few brief anecdotes of his past career, in
which the jocose and the horrible seemed
to mingle in cynic confusion. The one
point on which he was uncommunicative
was the manner of his recent escape
from Toplon; or how-probably owing
to the completely of others-he became
possessed Of his weapons. But he told
graphically of the ten days of hardship
and hunger which he had endured while
skulking among the rocky hills by night,
and lying hidden among thorny brakes
by day, until at last he broke into p8an
Of triumph In relating how he had en-
countered and robbed the true M. de Vii
leneuve on his way to the village fete.
twenty shining maps in his purse,
the idiotw he said exultingly, "and
$1,000 francs besides in notes, Well,
WE'LL Ileft him gagged and bound to a
tree, after had taken the freedom to
change clothes with him; and there he
stands, no doubt, trembling, but fortunate
to keep whole skin. And found in
his pocket the letter of III. Killick, prom
ising to take himsas passenger in the
balloon here, and So"
And so the idea had presented itself to
this daring and ready-witted ruffian to
personate the victim of his recent rob-
berry, and thus to procure the means of
flight in what was certainly an unexam-
pied fashion, while was the luckless
scapegoat of his audacious enterprise.
Meanwhile the wind, as have said,
was rising and as we hurried on looked
downward, and saw by the simmer of
the moonlight on the tremendous waves
that the sea was below u.s. could not
fUrbear from an exclamation of dismay.
=, The desperate at nay side also looked
down.. j -. -,
sBah! sea or land-what matters it ~
he said reck1essly Throw out bal
last; do you hear me?" and unwillingly
I,eomplied.
The balloon instantly rose, and it pres
emily became perceptibly colder, so that
shivered, and had to chafe my hands
: together to prevent them from stiffen-
ing. My companions iron frame showed
mo signs of suffering from the abrupt
lowering of the temperature; but after
time the Defiance seemed to be nearer to
the sea, for heard the low roar of the
waves: and then Risque-son- cou impa-
tientiy flung out another bag of ballast,
and we rose. Vague, like the visions
of dream, are my recollections of the
voyage of that miserable night, spent
thus, and in such company. / suffered
much from cold and fatigue, and it
was mechanically that / obeyed
the directions of the escaped galley-slave,
who had now assumed the command.
There was no doubt about the fixity of
his determination to continue the des-
perate fight until we should be across
the Preach frontier. How. long our
aerial journey. might prove, undertaken
as it was without warm clothing, provi-
sions or brandy, / could not conjecture,
while it was certain that we were hurry
ing along at a swift pace-how swift
had ne means of calculating before the
pressure of the, strong wind
So far as could tell, the direction of
the wind was a uniform one, steadily
from north-east-by-east. The sea which
had seen beneath us was, no doubt a
part of the gull, lying somewhere between
the mouths of the river Rhone and the
fcI. h<x hut Al i